In a mobile network, mobile nodes (MNs) can request dynamic home IP address assignment, based on their Network Access Identifiers (NAIs). When a new MN registers with the network, a home IP address is assigned to the MN and a routing entry is created in the routing/forwarding table in order to assign the appropriate route for any packets destined to the MN. When a MN leaves the network (e.g., deregisters or expires), the home IP address of the MN is released and the associated routing entry is removed from the routing/forwarding table. The routing entry points to an outgoing/destination interface to which packets are sent.
Due to the dynamic nature of mobile networks, MNs are continuously entering the network and leaving the network, and, thus, IP addresses are continuously being assigned and released for the MNs. Furthermore, MNs may use assigned IP addresses for any length of time (i.e., assigned IP addresses may be short-lived or may be long-lived). Disadvantageously, however, in IP address assignment schemes utilizing address aggregation techniques to reduce the size of the routing/forwarding table, assignment of IP addresses to transient MNs ultimately results in an increase in the size of the routing/forwarding table.